Picking up the Pieces
by Lozidee
Summary: When Bella dies in a sudden car accident, Jessica only expected several therapy sessions or unhealthy coping mechanisms like underage drinking to deal with the guilt. The last thing she expected was to end up dealing with the extra baggage that came from Bella Swan's death, one of which includes trying to save Edward from his downward spiral into darkness without getting killed.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I've been rewatching the Twilight movies recently and basically got the idea to write a fic focused on Edward/Jessica, I really like her character so thought it would be interesting to write a romance dynamic between her and Edward. I also thought it would be interesting to include a "what if Bella died" scenario. ****This would take place in the middle of Twilight before the events of the baseball game. ****Some of you might think well how could Edward even move on from Bella? Well he doesn't, at least not for a while. Since Edward is deeply affected by her death, this definitely will be a slow burn fic. As you can see by this chapter it's going to be very dark and will only get darker from here on out before any romance starts to happen. Basically let me know what you think! And I'll decide if I should continue it or not. Happy Halloween!**

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The horrific accident happened within seconds.

One minute I was driving in awkward silence with Bella sitting next to me in the passenger's seat. We had been driving home from Port Angeles; Angela met up with her mom while we were shopping for prom dresses so she opted to drive back home with her instead, much to my disappointment. It's not that I disliked Bella...well okay scratch that-didn't particularly like her either, but we really didn't have much in common. That is, on the rare occasions she would actually speak.

I briefly glanced over at the girl who was silently staring at the light rain out the window.

To be honest, I wasn't sure why she even bothered to come with me and Angela in the first place. By the way she was sitting at the corner of the room with a look of misery on her face as we were trying on dresses made it clear she hated shopping for clothes. But then again, Bella's peculiar and painfully awkward personality made it obvious she wasn't an average everyday teenage girl.

"So..." I finally decided to cut the uncomfortable silence, despite the way Bella slightly cringed at hearing my voice-she seemed to have preferred the silence. "Are you really not going to go to prom?"

She shook her head. "No. Mike had asked me, but I turned him down."

I grit my teeth in frustration before quickly masking it into a fake smile. "Oh wow, he did?" A nervous chuckle left my lips.

_What a fucking bastard, so he only asked me out because Bella had rejected him?! I should've known... _My hands slowly drifted over to my phone as I proceeded to tap on his name under my contacts type out some swear words.

"Yeah, but I don't like to dance, and I know you'd rather go with him instead." She remarked, as if she thought of it as a kind gesture. Or pity.

My hands angrily tightened the steering wheel. _Who does she think she is? What does everyone see in her that I don't? She has the personality of a vegetable, for Christ sake._

"I don't want to go to prom with Mike. What made you think that?" I nearly snapped at her, but had to regain my usual sweet composure as I continued to type out an angry message to Mike. She seemed taken aback as I snapped at her, her body immediately recoiling against the window as if she were retreating back to her shell. I almost felt sorry that I had gotten angry at her.

"I-I'm sorry, I thought you liked him-"

"Well, I don't like him."

My phone vibrated several moments after I had sent the angry messages. I scoffed. What does that bastard have to say for himself? My eyes averted away from the road for a brief second to reach for my phone. It only took a second to open up my inbox, but that split second was all it took for the horrific tragedy to unfurl before my eyes.

All I heard was Bella scream my name.

My gaze instantly shot up towards the road, where the dark figure of a man stood right in front of my car. The only thing I could make out was a blur of blonde hair as the headlights drifted over his form. My heart froze and my face paled as I slammed on the breaks, but I knew it was too late.

I was expecting my car to send the man flying, I mean what human could withstand the power of a fast moving vehicle? However, it was as if we had ran into a brick wall as soon as the the car collided into the man. A frightened gasp left my body before I could register what had happened-my car flew into the fucking air and slammed back into the pavement.

My vision became blurred with broken glass and concrete as the car rolled over multiple times, hitting the ground with strong amount of force that felt like an earthquake. Once the car finally came to a stop, it was still upside down, with us dangling from above.

There was a piercing ringing in my ears as I slowly opened my eyes to the disaster before me. My head felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer-no migraine I ever had could compare to the pain I was feeling in my head, not to mention my body.

As soon as I turned my head to the side, a wave of pain surged through my body. I whimpered as soon as the ringing in my ear began to fade away. My forehead felt damp, and it didn't take me long to guess why once I felt a trickle of liquid fall down my eye to my lips and land on the floor-or rather, the top of the car as a drop of red blood.

"Bella?" I groaned, once I realized there was only silence beside me, but this time the silence was painfully unnerving. Usually my reaction was annoyance whenever Bella would open her mouth but at this point I was practically begging for her to say something to make sure she was alright, anything.

"Bella? Bella, are you okay?" From the corner of my eyes, all I could see was her drooped head.

"Bella, please wake up." I whimpered, trying to get out of my seat but the fucking seatbelt was stuck. Despite the excruciating pain I felt in both of my legs, I reached out to her and nudged her head to the side. There was no movement, only when I reeled my hand away I could feel the wet blood on my fingers. A sob tore through my throat, my heart racing inside of my chest.

My breath came out in shaky gasps as I tried to move my body, but my legs wouldn't budge under the trapped steering wheel. The door was jammed as well; as I managed to stretch my hand towards the handle, the door was blocked from opening as it scraped alongside the pavement.

I let out another frustrated sob. I needed my phone to call for help. Where was my phone...?

My eyes grew half lidded as I felt myself begin to lose consciousness from the pain combined with the blood loss. I furiously blinked my eyes in order to stay awake.

No, I can't pass out right now.

_Don't pass out._

Suddenly, I heard the sound of shifting metal as the passenger side door was torn off by its hinges. Something grabbed a hold of Bella and dragged her outside before I even had time to react.

"No, no, no, no..." A frantic male voice. My mind continued to drift into unconsciousness but as the voice; on the verge of sobbing, continued I could swear it sounded familiar.

I've heard that voice somewhere...

"Bella, please, wake up. Stay with me, you can't do this to me."

_Was that...Edward's voice?_

My head lolled over to the side as I glanced over to take another look, feeling sure I must have been going delusional. I watched them from inside the vehicle-well, it wasn't like I could move anyways; Bella was still unconscious being cradled in Edward's arms. They were both on the floor, his hands tracing her face, her hair, desperately trying to shake her awake. The pained expression on his face could honestly be comparable to that of a mother losing her child.

He did something strange after he tried to wake her.

His lips were on her wrists, and for a second I thought he was going to kiss her skin, but instead he opened his mouth and left bite marks all across her arm in a desperate frenzy. I winced as I watched the blood fall from his lips; his gaze looked like that of a maniac's, the light in his golden gaze slowly beginning to disappear.

Okay, I was definitely delusional. Last time I checked, Edward was constantly following after Bella like some lost puppy, not trying to eat her like some starved person at an all you can eat buffet.

I figured I must be dead already. Maybe that's why I'm seeing things.

But for some reason I couldn't keep my gaze off of them. The life in his gaze fell and his body grew stiff as soon as he must have realized Bella wasn't going to wake up.

"No..." A whisper left his lips, so quiet I had to be sure I heard it.

He sucked in a sharp breath, his shoulders trembling as he gently pulled Bella to his chest and held her close. Burying his face in her hair, he gave out a strangled cry and the most pained scream I've ever heard echoed across the area. I felt goosebumps across my skin once I heard his screams and watched his shoulders wrack each time he cried out.

"NO!"

An overwhelming sadness suddenly overtook my body. By the way he was reacting...Bella had to be dead.

She was dead.

_She can't be dead._

_Was this my fault?_

I wasn't paying attention to the road...

My throat tightened and tears began to spill from my eyes before I could even stop. My bottom lip trembled and a quiet sob escaped. My eyes shut closed, hoping that all of this was just a bad nightmare.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." I whispered over and over again. Even though Bella couldn't hear me, I didn't know who I was saying this to.

As I whispered under my breath, I didn't even notice abruptly Edward leaving Bella's side. Suddenly I felt a breeze of air hit my face as the car door was torn off its hinges and tossed aside on the road with a loud thud. I didn't know what to think at first, I was still a bit disoriented and shocked, my entire body was still trembling. It was only until I felt my seatbelt unbuckle and a rough hand grab my arm and drag me out of the car that I snapped out of it. As soon as my feet were on the floor a wave of excruciating pain hit me, the pain causing my legs to suddenly crumple underneath me. I staggered to the floor and screamed in agony, tears now protruding my vision.

I struggled to catch my breath but I felt the hand reach down to grab me, this time pulling me up by my jacket and shoving me back. Apparently so hard that my body slammed against the side of the car. My head spun, and I quickly realized whoever pulled me out of the car was not intending to save me, they wanted to hurt me.

I sunk to the floor again as the pain in my legs grew. I was pretty sure one of them was at least broken, if not both. As the tears fell from my cheeks, my vision began to clear up. This time I lifted my gaze and was met with Edward's angry golden orbs, his expression contorted into that of complete rage and distress.

"E-Edward?" I choked out, my voice trembling. The more I gazed into his bright golden eyes the more I realized he clearly was not human.

"What happened?" He glared.

"I-I don't know, I-" My lower lip trembled, but before I could finish my sentence he kneeled down in front of me and grabbed my wrist in a violent grip. The second his fingers tightened my eyes flew open as his insane strength just snapped my bone in a mere second without any effort.

I shrieked at the sound of my bone snapping. A desperate sob left my throat as my heart hammered against my chest.

I needed to get away from this maniac, _he was going to kill me._

"I don't know, you fucking asshole!" I screamed, anger getting the best of me since I was in so much pain. I could hardly think about the bigger hole I was digging myself into. "Why are you doing this!? I didn't mean to crash the fucking car, I didn't know she was going to die-" I choked on another sob as I thought about Bella's dead body still laying on the road from the other side of the car.

"You killed her." He seethed, cold air floating around his face from each heavy breath he took. "You killed the only thing in the world that mattered to me." For a second I could've sworn his voice broke, he sounded like he was on the verge of tears. I hesitantly gazed back up at him, and if he wasn't acting like a psychotic maniac right now, I would have to admit that his golden gaze, laced with sadness, looked absolutely beautiful as the snow fell against his alabaster skin.

I bitterly scoffed, I must have been crazy myself to still be daydreaming about how beautiful Edward was even though he was trying to kill me.

I winced as I felt a piercing pain against the back of my head. He must've pushed me against the vehicle harder than I thought.

"I didn't mean to, I promise." My frightened voice came out as a hushed whisper.

He narrowed his eyes as he stared at me for a while, as if trying to see if I was telling the truth or something. His unnerving glare made me shrink back against the car, my gaze looking back and forth to see if I could try to escape or find a weapon of some sort.

To my surprise, after several moments of silence he suddenly pulled away and stood back up to tower over me.

"You're lucky I can read your thoughts, that's the only reason I won't kill you." He turned his gaze.

Before I could even ask what he meant by that, he disappeared without a trace. Probably to go back to Bella.

That made my suddenly remember the man who I had hit. I didn't get a chance to see if he was still alive, due to the face I couldn't even walk right now.

I winced and miserably groaned in pain, still lying on the floor in a crumpled heap. As soon as I saw flashing yellow lights from the corner of my eyes, I slwoly turned my head and saw a car coming towards us before slowing down and coming to a stop. I felt a wave of instant relief crashing over me as the driver got out of the car and raced towards us. He kept asking if I was okay, my lips slightly parted to respond until I felt something wet roll down my nose.

My hands slowly touched my upper lip. My brows furrowed in confusion after I pulled my hand away and discovered that blood was on it. I was bleeding through my nose.

Before the driver could reach me, the last thing I could remember was suddenly feeling my vision go black and my head fall back against the pavement.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews! I'm glad this story received alot of responses, to be honest I was only expecting a few so it exceeded my expectations :) without further ado, here is the next chapter. Enjoy!**

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My eyes fluttered open for a second and all I could see was the ceiling. I winced at the harsh light coming from above me. Voices began to fade in and out all around me and as I turned my head I felt my body floating on something soft.

"She's losing blood, fast."

Black spots appeared across my vision but I could still see the walls moving in a fast pace. I figured I was probably being pushed on a gurney right now.

"She has two fractures on her left knee and her wrist. Heavy bruising on her left leg and a possible scalp hematoma."

I felt my body suddenly stop floating across the hallway as the gurney came to a stop. I opened my eyes again and realized I was in a hospital room now. My breath left my lips in heavy gasps as I struggled to find the strength to speak out loud.

"Patient is Jessica Stanley, 17 years old." I heard one of the nurses comment. Then, a male voice.

"Ah, Jessica Stanley, she goes to the same high school my kids do."

My lips trembled. Well actually, my entire body was trembling, but for some reason my forehead felt hot and sweaty.

"Jessica, can you hear me?" The male doctor leaned over and this time I could see his face while my eyes struggled to stay open.

A familiar face quickly came into view. Dr. Cullen. More specifically, Edward's father. He gave me a warm reassuring smile in attempt to soothe my nerves. It had worked for a moment, until I found myself absentmindedly staring at his alabaster skin.

The same extaordinary palneness Edward had.

I felt my skin suddenly crawl at the memory of his cold touch grabbing my wrist and breaking my hand all the while his furious monsterous gaze was fixated on mines. He had really wanted to kill me.

My heart quickly sped up and my initial relaxed state was replaced by fear at the sight of Dr. Cullen's smile.

"Get away from me!" I screeched, well at least tried to, but instead my currently hoarse voice came out sounding like a middle-aged chainsmoker. My hands frantically gripped the sides of the gurney as I tried to pull myself up.

A frown replaced his smile and he slowly reached forward to stop me from moving. "Jessica, stay still, we don't want you to hurt yourself. It's alright, nobody's going to hurt you."

I quickly smacked his hand away.

"Bullshit! Your son just turned into some super powered freak and tried to kill me!"

The nurses immeditely scurried towards the gurney and grabbed a hold of my hands to try and restrain my down. I flailed my arms around, trying to escape their grasp despite the seering pain I was feeling throughout my body by moving it.

"Let me go!" I hissed.

"Please calm down, miss. You've been in a terrible car accident." One of the nurses remarked.

"Yeah, no shit!" I glared. Tears formed across the corners of my eyes as my head throbbed.

"You've suffered some head trauma, Miss Stanley. It's very common to be confused."

"I know what I saw!" I insisted, tugging on my arm once I felt one of the nurses stretch my arm out. My body grew stiff and I saw they had injected me with some type of needle.

"What are you doing?! Let go of me!"

"We need you to calm down, Miss Stanley."

The voices in the room suddenly grew more disoriented as my breathing began to slow down. My eyelids grew heavy and my head lolled to the side. I attemped to speak out again but all that came out was an incoherent mumble under my breath. I heard Dr. Cullen concerned voice discuss something with the nurses but couldn't quite make it out as my vision once again faded into darkness.

Great, now I was stuck in my thoughts again, alone.

Throughout my state of unconsciousness, the only thing I could picture in my head was Bella's crippled body laying on the side of the pavement.

It shouldn't have even been possible for me to survive that accident.

I was the one driving, I was the one who let my hands wander away from the steering wheel. _What was I doing again? Oh yeah, texting stupid Mike. All because I was upset with him liking Bella over me._

A sob suddenly left my lips, causing me to slightly stir awake from my sate of lucid dreaming. My eyes remained shut but I could still hear the faint beeping noise from the monitor of the hospital room. It only just reminded me that the accident hadn't been just a nightmare.

I hadn't realized I had been turning my head from side to side to find a more comfortable spot against the thin pillow that the hospital provided.

"Jessica?"

A familiar voice called for me as I felt someone place their hand over mine.

My heavy eyelids slowly opened and weakly gazed around the room. I was still in the hospital, but it looked like I had been moved into a more personal room. The hand tightened around mine and I glanced over to see my Mom standing there with a sorrowful expression on her face.

"Mom?" A croak left my lips.

I winced at the sound of my insanely hoarse voice. It didn't help that my lips also felt as dry as the Sahara desert and were in desperate need of some lip balm. I slowly licked them to provide some moisture but it felt like I was licking sandpaper.

"I'm here, sweetie." She moved her hand from mine to brush a strand of my hair behind my ear. Her voice sounded like it was on the verge of tears. "You've been asleep for a couple days."

"W-what?" I stuttered, hoping I had heard her wrong. "A couple...days?!"

"Shh, just relax, honey." She stroked my hair once my heart monitor started to beep faster.

"How many days, Mom?"

It felt like I had only been asleep for a couple minutes after the nurses injected me with whatever it was and had me knocked out.

"Three days."

My eyes widened. "Three?!"

"Yes honey, don't worry, the doctors said it was completely normal considering the trauma you body has endured."

My lips parted in shock, blocking out anything other reassurance that my Mom was trying to give me. I glanced down at my hospital down in horror after realizing I hadn't had a shower in three days. I probably smelled worse than those alcoholic middle aged ex frat boys in Port Angeles.

I sighed and decided to brush the unnerving thought from my head as I had plenty of other things I needed to ask my Mom.

After noticing she was the only one else in the room, I stared at her confused. "Where's Dad?"

"He went to the cafeteria to get some food," she remarked as she propped a few pillows behind my back so I could try to sit up properly. I winced as I propped my elbows against the sheets of the bed to try and pull myself up. One of my legs was in a cast and the other had bandages wrapped around it. I instincitvely brought my hand up to my forehead and felt the soft fabric of bandages I had around my head as well.

Mom quickly placed an arm around my back and my hand to help me sit up against the pillows. After sitting up, I briefly caught her gaze. She looked like she hadn't slept in days.

A knot quickly caught in my throat. If she was like this now, I couldn't imagine what state she would be in if I actually had died.

Speaking of which, nobody had told me if that man I hit had actually died or not.

I softly cleared my throat to rid of the knot. "Was I the only one that survived?" My voice came out as a soft murmer.

Mom swallowed before slowly nodding. "Yes, Bella...didn't survive the crash." She gave a sorrowful sigh before wiping at a tear that threatened to fall. "Oh, that poor girl. My heart goes out to her family, especially Charlie. That poor man has been a wreck. This is such a tragedy for the entire town." Her voice suddenly broke. "When I got the call from the hospital, I was so scared, I thought you were dead." A sob left her throat and tears began streaming down her cheeks.

She held me in her arms for several moments. I hugged her close as tears began clouding my vision.

_I didn't ask for any of this to happen..._

"What about...the man I hit? Did he survive?" I decided to ask, despite already knowing what the answer was.

Mom's brows furrowed as she gave me a confused stare. "What man, honey? There wasn't any man found on the scene of the accident." She wiped away her tears.

"I-I hit a man." I shook my head. "That's how we crashed in the first place. It was raining and I took my eyes off the road for a minute, and then I saw him through the headlights, and the car hit him and flipped over."

"Honey, the car wouldn't have flipped over from hitting a person. You must have hit a tree or something."

"No, I saw it, I hit him!" I insisted.

"Don't work yourself up thinking about the accident, sweetheart. Please, you need to rest." Mom pulled a blanket over me.

I was about to say something else until there was a sudden knock on the door. We both glanced over, but Mom was standing in the way of the entrance so I couldn't exactly see who it was. I was expecting it to be my Dad until Mike sheepishly appeared from the doorway and came into view.

It was nearly ironic to see him so soon after I had just caused a tragic accident because of him.

"Jess? You're awake!" A wide grin appeared on his face and a sigh of relief came after.

The sigh of relief almost surpised me. _Was he really that worried about me?_ A soft blush suddenly creeped its way onto my face, I wasn't sure if I was angry or flattered. Then I realized he was holding a bouquet of flowers and any anger I had slowly dissipated.

_I guess it wouldn't be fair if I was angry, after all the accident was my fault, not his._ The begrudging thought came across my mind.

"Oh, hi Mrs. Stanley." Mike gave a slight nod towards my Mom, to which she responded with a kind smile.

I rolled my eyes. Mom always had a soft spot for Mike. She practically already thought he was her son in law.

"Hi, Mike."

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything-" He glanced between the both of us.

"No, it's fine, come in." She waved him in.

I mentally groaned, embarassed to have anyone see me in this state, considering I haven't showered in days and was covered in bandages.

"Mike's been here everyday for the past two days to come check up on you." Mom decided to mention, since she seemed to have caught my displeased expression.

"Really?" I raised my eyebrow and glanced over at Mike, whose face was now as red as a tomato.

"Uh, y-yeah." He gave a nervous chuckle. "But you were always asleep, so."

"I'll let you two talk for a few minutes, I need to go let your father know you're awake." Mom gave us both a smile.

Before I had time to protest, she had already left the room. I rolled my eyes in defeat.

"How are you feeling, Jess?" Mike hesitantly stepped closer to the bed before the momentary silence could get too awkward between us.

I scoffed. _Is_ _he really asking me that?_

"I feel like shit." I forced a fake smile.

He chuckled. "Well I'm glad to see you haven't lost your charm." He paused before glancing down at the flowers he still had in his hand. "I guess I'll put these flowers with the rest, then."

At first, I was confused of what he meant by that until I looked over and saw an abundance of get well soon cards, teddy bears, and bouquets of flowers that were placed for me on the table in the corner of the room which I didn't notice before. I watched as Mike paced across the room and placed the flowers with the rest of the bouquets.

"Wow, I never knew I was this popular." I remarked in surprise, my confidence growing back a bit. Seeing all those gifts was a bit of an ego booster, I had to admit. _I really am loved._

"Lauren and Angela have been visiting a lot too, but you were still asleep." Mike interuppted me from my thoughts. "Even Eric and Tyler popped by one time. Everyone's been worried about you..." He paused to stare at me. The heart monitor stopped beeping for a second which made me think my heart just literally skipped a beat.

"I've been worried about you," he admitted.

"It's pretty awful...what happened."

I bit my lip as a pregnant silence fell across the room. The last thing I wanted was to be reminded of the accident again. I sadly sighed. "Yeah, um, let's not talk about that. Has anything new happened in school recently?"

Honestly even hearing about high school drama would cheer me up about now.

"Nothing much has been happening at school, just everyone's been talking about...the accident. It's kinda weird though, the Cullen's have been a no show in the school for the past couple of days."

For some reason I tensed up when he mentioned the Cullens. I don't think I would ever be able to look at them the same way again after Edward basically tried to fucking murder me over Bella's death. I winced at the memory before licking my lips. "Well they were probably close to Bella, not to mention Edward-" I even hesitated a bit before saying his name. "They're obviously grieving over her death."

Mike's expression suddenly darkened, as if he was slightly disturbed about something.

"I was thinking the same until I saw that Cullen dude hovering around the hallway in front your room basically every time I came to visit you."

My blood suddenly ran cold and goosebumps fell across my arms as my gaze insantly shot up.

"Wait, what? What Cullen dude?"

He raised an eyebrow, as if I had asked an obvious question.

"Edward Cullen."

"He's been...around my room?" My voice trembled.

"Yeah, its super weird." Mike shrugged and rambled on as if everything was normal. "I mean, it's not like Bella is in the hospital. She's...dead." His voice dropped into sadness. "So I don't know why he'd be here."

"Well, his dad's a doctor here so maybe that's why." I quickly tried to think of a reason or explanation of why Edward might be roaming around the halls near my room in order to calm myself down. But any reason I tried to think of, it still seemed super fucking weird he was near my room in the first place.

"Yeah but it would make sense if he was sitting out in the waiting room. But standing in front of your room? It's strange." Mike only repeated what I was thinking. As my heart began to race, I blocked out anything else he said after that. While I momentarily spaced out, Mike glanced over at his phone.

"Ah shit, I forgot I have football practice in 20 minutes. I gotta run."

"Mike, Edward's trying to kill me." I blurted out without thinking. My hands fisted the sheets so hard my knuckles turned white. I tried to slow down my breaths as I could feel I was on the verge of a panic attack.

He snorted, trying to hide a laugh. "What, you think he has some vendetta against you because you survived and his girlfriend didn't?"

"That's exactly what it is!" My face grew flushed as he only chuckled at my response.

"I think you're getting a little too freaked out, Jess." He scratched the back of his head. "Maybe it wasn't a good idea to tell you what I saw. Don't worry, alright? I'm sure that's just Cullen being a weirdo as usual."

"Mike." I quickly spoke before he could head for the door. "Can you like text me, tonight? Or call me, maybe?"

He grinned. "Sure thing, Jess." I almost rolled my eyes. Knowing him, he would probably forget.

"Have fun with Cullen hiding under your bed tonight, muhahaha."

"Very funny." I flipped him off and glared at his attempt at an evil laugh. He laughed for real this time before giving me a silent wave and leaving the room.

As humorous as the comment sounded, it wasn't going to be very funny once Edward the serial killer actually gutted me in my sleep tonight. I slowly pulled the covers closer to my face as if I was expecting him to show up this very second.

_What the hell does he want with me? If he wants to kill me, why won't he just do it already? Is he just doing this to torment me?_

I groaned and let my head sink back against the pillows.

I really hoped that Mike was only just seeing things or just trying to play some prank on me.

That psychopath Edward Cullen was going to be the death of me.

_Literally._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you again for all the feedback! Here is a super early update! I'm hoping to make the next chapter longer but hopefully this chapter is enough to answer any questions or confusions some of you had been wondering about in the reviews. With further ado, enjoy the read :)**

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I slowly stirred awake and groaned before staring at the usual view of the hospital wall. I didn't even remember falling asleep. As I glanced around the room I saw that my parents weren't here either. They must've gone home a while ago considering the room was completely dark.

_Great, now I'm all alone._

I propped my elbows up and tried to sit up against the thin mattress but it was kind of hard to even move with my stiff and heavy as shit leg cast in the way. I winced in pain as I tried to move it.

I hated being in the hospital, I just wanted to get better soon so I could get back to my normal life.

I scoffed. _Is my life really going to be normal again though?_ Because of this stupid cast, I was probably gonna lose my spot as captain of the volleyball team. Hell, I'm not even sure if I would still have a spot as president of the student council. I was near the verge of tears once I realized I wouldn't be able to go to prom either.

My social life was practically ruined.

Not to mention I would most likely need therapy over what happened.

At the thought of Bella, I suddenly felt slight guilt tugging at the back of my mind for being so selfish and worried over something as trivial as my social life.

_I should probably just be grateful that I'm alive._

I gave a heavy sigh and decided I should just make the most of being alone and unable to sleep by getting something to distract myself with. Speaking of which, where is my phone? I could just call or text Lauren and Angela and see if they were still awake. Scratch that, I would just wake them up myself unless I wanted to die of boredom.

My hand shifted across the mattress as I patted the blankets to look for my phone. I brushed my hands underneath the blankets but couldn't feel any metal object either. My gaze eventually fell on a phone charging cord from across the room, and then I saw my phone set aside on one of the chairs connected to a charger.

I angrily sucked in a sharp breath to keep from swearing out loud. _Well, there goes my only form of entertainment._

"You gotta be kidding me." I whimpered, letting my head fall back against the pillow in defeat. My mom must have put it to charge there before she left.

"Jessica."

My eyebrows knitted together in confusion at hearing a male voice in my head. _Am I hearing things...?_

My eyes suddenly shot open and I literally froze.

_No._

My head turned towards the direction of the voice so fast I nearly got whiplash. To my complete horror, I could make out half of Edward Cullen's pale face as it was being illuminated by the moonlight being casted through the window. His other half was difficult to make out, being blanketed underneath the darkness of the room.

In other words, he was literally just standing there in the corner glowering over at me like some creepy ghost you would see in a horror film.

Panic surged through me as my whole expression immediately contorted into a look of terror. I opened my mouth to scream but he flung his hand over me before I had the chance to let out as much of a squeal.

"Don't scream." His steely gaze was inches away from mine and I could feel him breathe against my ear. My hand instinctively flew up and caught his wrist.

His skin was so abnormally cold it nearly hurt to touch. Not to mention his hand was over my mouth, _ugh, his skin feels so unnatural and corpse-like I feel like I'm going to vomit._

As he stared at me, his mouth slightly twitched into a frown.

I tightened my fingers around his wrist and dug my nails into his skin, hoping to draw blood, but it just felt like I was trying to scratch a wall.

A tired sigh escaped his lips. "It's useless to struggle, you can't hurt me."

I angrily breathed against his hand. _We'll see about that, asshole._ My hand left his wrist and reeled back into a fist before landing a punch against his face. His expression remained impassive, without as much of a flinch. _That didn't even hurt him._ My pride swelled a bit, but not as much as the full blown pain I was now experiencing in my hand.

My face contorted into a grimace and I groaned in agony. _What the hell is this guy made out of? Stone?_

"That's not going to work on me either."

I glared at him.

His gaze gradually softened. "I'm not going to hurt you, Stanley. I promise."

"I just need you to trust me."

_Trust him? Yeah, right. Does he think I'm stupid?_ My body stiffened and my breathing gradually relaxed as I felt his hand begin to shift from my mouth.

He arched an eyebrow, concern visible on his features. "I'm going to take my hand off now, but please don't scream."

The second he took his hand off I shoved his arm away and screamed bloody murder.

"Help!" I shrieked. "Help, this maniac is trying to kill me!"

He merely gave me a look of annoyance before we heard footsteps rapidly running down the hall and coming towards this direction. My eyes went as wide as a tennis ball after I watched him just disappear out of the room in a blur, leaving nothing but a breeze of air behind in the spot next to my bed.

"Wait!" I miserably glared at the empty space. "Come back, you son of a bitch!"

The nurses ran inside of my room, their alarmed expressions turning into confusion once they saw that nobody else was in the room besides me. I stupidly pointed at the corner next to my bed.

"He-there was a guy in my room and he's trying to kill me." I stuttered. "He was right there."

One of the nurses paced towards the side of the bed to check my vital signs and heartbeat from the monitor.

"Are you sure? We didn't see anyone come out of your room." She gave me a questionable look after checking my IV's.

"Look, I know I sound crazy, but just hear me out." I slowed down my breathing to make myself sound more calm. "I'm really not making things up!" I insisted. "He just..vanished into thin air!" I took a long pause before sighing and rolling my eyes. Maybe I should just shut up, I'm only making myself sound even more insane. It's useless, they were never going to believe me.

The nurses exchanged glances with each other, probably questioning my sanity at this point. One of them gives a discreet eye roll. Two of them left the room while one stayed behind.

"Miss Stanley, it must've only been a nightmare." She assured. "In the meantime, try to get some rest. Do you need anything? Do you want me to call your parents?"

I shook my head in defeat. "No, just forget it." My forehead creased as I tilted my lips into a frown.

She gave me a curt nod before leaving the room. _Probably to go talk shit with the other nurses._

After all the commotion died down, I nearly have another mini panic attack when I see Edward suddenly standing in front of my bed this time. His frustrated glare met my uneasy gaze.

"I told you not to scream." He muttered.

I had the sudden urge to shove him out the window. _Maybe it would actually hurt him if he fell off a five story building. How the hell is he so strong and fast? What kind of steroids are you on, Cullen?_ I ignored his previous statement, my fingernails digging into the palm of my hands to keep from trembling.

"You're not human. You're not normal."

"If you'll let me explain-"

"I don't want you to explain anything to me!" I angrily hissed, trying my best to keep my voice down to prevent the nurses from hearing again. "What I want is for you to leave me alone!"

His eyes slowly narrowed. "I can't do that."

I scoffed in disbelief. "What, do you have some sick obsession with me now or something?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Stanley." His jaw clenched, a sign his patience was wearing thin. "Last time I checked, you were the one who was obsessed with me."

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my anger in check. Instead of swearing at him, I merely rolled my eyes. "Trust me Cullen, I've been over you for a long time now. To be honest, I don't even know why I was attracted in the first place. You're not even that cute." _Okay, maybe that was a lie._ I glared at his gorgeous alabaster face that seemed to be structured by the gods themselves, and a jawline so sharp it could cut steel. _But like hell I would ever let him know that._

"You just said that was a lie."

My eyeballs practically bulged out of their sockets. "What?" I nearly shrieked until I realized I was being too loud. "No I didn't!" I huffed, my lips slightly parting into a baffled expression. I only said that in my head. Realization suddenly sunk in. "Are you serious-you can read minds now or something? What next? Are you gonna shoot red laser beams out of your eyes and fly too?"

He slowly blinked at me. "No, I'm not Superman."

"Then what are you?"

There was a long pause until he gave a deep sigh, a look of reluctance was visibly etched across his features.

"I'm a vampire."

There was an even bigger pause this time. I didn't even know how to respond. To be honest, nothing he said would really surprise me considering the fact I obviously already knew he had super mutant powers. _I was expecting an alien, but a vampire, seriously?_

"Great, you're even more of a freak than I thought." I sneered. He slightly winced at the harsh comment, but I could care less how mean it sounded.

I was surprised as a look of hurt appeared across his gaze for a few seconds before being replaced with that same look of impassiveness they held before. I didn't even notice before, but this time his gaze was pitch black instead of gold like it was at the scene of the accident. His eyes were hollow and visible purple shadows outlined his eye bags, like he hadn't slept for weeks. His eyes looked depressed, like someone who lost any ounce of will to live.

That being said, I didn't regret insulting him and still hoped he would go die in a ditch.

"I know you despise me right now, and you have all the reason to..." His gaze lowered before glancing back up with a stern glare. "But your life is in danger."

"Yeah, genius, my life is in danger from you."

He muttered a curse under his breath. "I already told you I wasn't going to hurt you-" He paused and his gaze softened after falling across all of my bandages and injuries, some of which he caused. "Anymore." He solemnly finished his sentence before giving me a look of sorrow. "I'm truly sorry that I did."

"Then what are you doing here?" _Frankly, I could care less about his apology. He can shove it up his ass. I hope you can hear that too, Cullen._

Apparently he did, since his eye twitched in mild irritation.

"I'm here to watch and make sure you don't get killed by the monster who is hunting you." He finally explained.

"What monster?" I questioned. _The only monster I see here is you._

He ignored my thoughts as he continued on. "That man you thought you ran over, he wasn't a human, he's a vampire. He caused the crash on purpose, in hopes of killing you two for food. He only managed to kill one of you-" I swore I heard his voice slightly break. _He was thinking of Bella._ A pang of sadness flashed across his gaze as he struggled to continue. "So he's after you now." He murmured.

"So..." I raised an eyebrow. "You're saying I'm being targeted by another vampire?" My body froze. _So that's why the car flipped over after I hit that man. I knew I wasn't just seeing things, he was actually there after all._

"Yes," Edward confirmed both my words and thoughts.

"Why me, though? He wants to kill me just because I survived?" _I thought that's what you wanted to do. _The sarcastic thought crossed my mind.

A low growl made me slightly jump. "Can you please attempt to control your insulting thoughts, Stanley?" He angrily glared.

"That wasn't an insult, that was a fact." I retorted.

He gave a frustrated sigh. "I only wanted to kill you because I needed someone to blame for the death of my...Bella." He finished the last word with a grimace.

"How about you stop reading my mind, just answer the question I actually ask." I angrily huff. He gave a sigh of defeat.

"Yes, he wants to kill you because you survived. He's a tracker, it's what he does. He never leaves any prey alive."

"Then I'm guessing you're just here in case he comes to kill me so you can kill him and avenge your girlfriend's death."

He remained silent before darkly muttering a "yes."

_Exactly what I expected._ I bit my lip and gave a soft sigh before planning my next words carefully.

"So in other words, you don't really give a shit if I live or die as long as you get your revenge?"

"If I didn't care, I wouldn't bother telling you that you're being targeted."

_Well, he does have a point. _I tried to look for any indicator that he was lying in his expression but his gaze remained completely serious.

I relaxed against the pillows as I calmed down a bit. That, and my back was starting to hurt from being so tense. _Okay, maybe he's actually being sincere._

He glances over at me as if he's about to say something.

_Don't answer that. _I glared.

He kept quiet.

"I don't need your protection, I can protect myself." _All I have to do is google how to kill a vampire for beginners._

His mouth twitched and he scoffed, trying to mask a laugh. "You can't kill a vampire. You're just a human. They can crush you in seconds."

I arched an eyebrow. "Um, haven't you ever heard of Buffy the vampire slayer?"

"Real vampires are nothing like the ones you see in TV or movies. Our bodies are designed to be indestructible. There's nothing a human can do that can hurt us." "Physically, at least."

"So what the hell are humans supposed to do then, just die?"

His silence was enough of an answer.

I groaned and let my head fall against my hands, slowly massaging my temples as I felt an impending headache. This was too much information to retain all at once. First I was scared that Edward was going to kill me and now I have to worry about another maniac?

"I need time...to process everything." I finally decided before lifting up my gaze back towards him. "Can you like, leave me be?"

He only stood there, frozen.

"Jessica, I already told you I have to stay close by."

I rolled my eyes. "You don't have to leave the hospital, just get out of of my room, please. I need my space right now and frankly, I still don't trust you." I glared.

He remained silent for a moment and for a second I thought he was just going to argue again until he reluctantly but eventually gave a slight nod. _At least he has the decency to respect my wishes._

"I can...understand that." His gaze lowered. He made a motion to leave but suddenly paused and sent a stern glare towards my direction. "One more thing before I go."

I curiously waited for him to continue.

"Could you please stop blabbering to the hospital staff about how I'm a 'super-powered freak and trying to kill you? For your sake and mines. I've already gotten reprimanded enough by my family and I would hate to see you thrown in the psych ward."

I scoffed. "You should be thrown in the psych ward."

He grunted in annoyance.

"Okay, you can go now." I repeated, louder this time.

I could feel a breeze of air fall across the room as he disappeared out of the room again without a trace. I was back to staring at the empty space of the hospital walls in the dark room and it's deafening silence, besides the occasional beeping of the heart monitor.

I felt myself instantly breathe a sigh of relief and I let my head fall back against the pillows. My gaze lowered to my hands that were still slightly trembling from that encounter. I had managed to hide my fear from Edward for the most part, but since he was a vampire maybe he had sensed it somehow anyways. I tried to stay calm the entire time he was telling me that man wanted me dead, but in reality I was in panic mode.

If he was right in that humans didn't stand a chance against a vampire, then I was screwed. I didn't exactly feel safe either with him supposedly protecting me. He was obviously under no obligation to keep me safe, he even admitted himself that he was just using me as a trap to kill that other vampire.

My trembling hands shifted across the mattress in search of my phone. I needed to talk to someone, anyone, and just ask them about their day to get my mind off this predicament I was in.

After absentmindedly patting against fabric for several minutes, sweet realization suddenly slapped me across the face as I turned my head where my phone was still being charged from across the room.

_Shit, my life would've been a hell of a lot easier if I had died along with Bella._


End file.
